Four short links: 23 July 2013

Ubuntu Edge | Indiegogo -- The Ubuntu Edge is the next generation of personal computing: smartphone and desktop PC in one state-of-the-art device. The Ubuntu Edge project aims to do the same for the mobile phone industry -- to provide a low-volume, high-technology platform, crowdfunded by enthusiasts and mobile computing professionals. And at the heart of it all is convergence: connect to any monitor and this Ubuntu phone transforms into an Ubuntu PC, with a fully integrated desktop OS and shared access to all files. The Ubuntu Edge will dual-boot both the Ubuntu phone OS and Android, and convert into a fully integrated Ubuntu desktop PC. Yes, its the full Ubuntu desktop OS used by millions on a daily basis -- and it runs directly from the phone, so youll be able to move seamlessly from one environment to the other with no file syncing or transfers required. On day one, youll be able to launch the Ubuntu desktop from within Android using our existing Ubuntu for Android app. At that point youll have a leading-edge smartphone that runs Ubuntu and Android, both of which can also run a fully integrated Ubuntu desktop OS.

Victory Lap for Ask Patents - Joel on Software -- Since patent examiners rely so much on keyword searches, when you submit your application, if you can change some of the keywords in your patent to be different than the words used everywhere else, you might get your patent through even when theres blatant prior art, because by using weird, made-up words for things, youve made that prior art harder to find. The applicant is deliberately overreaching, that is, striving to get the broadest possible patent knowing that the worst thing that can happen is that the patent examiner whittles their claims down to what they were entitled to patent anyway. At the heart of a patent is a list of claims: the things you allege to have invented that you will get a monopoly on if your patent is accepted. And thats why the USPTO asked us to set up Ask Patents , a Stack Exchange site where software developers like you can submit examples of prior art to stop crappy software patents even before theyre issued. One of the participants on Ask Patents pointed out that the patent application referred to something called scaling sets. I wasnt sure what that was supposed to mean but I found a specific part of the older Microsoft document that demonstrated this invention without using the same word, so I edited my answer a bit to point it out. And this kind of individual destruction of one software patent application at a time might start to make a dent in the mountain of bad patents getting granted.

leap motion: prototyping the future Kwin Kramer -- I work at Oblong , and we know something about Minority Report . And well forget that like small children who expect now that magazine pages should animate and respond to touch there ever used to be screens we couldnt just walk up to and point at.

The Newest Hottest Spike Lee Joint by Spike Lee Kickstarter -- You have been there from BACK IN DA DAY with my Feature Film debut SHE'S GOTTA HAVE IT (1986) to the present with RED HOOK SUMMER. To me it's not just that these Films are being made but it seems like these are the only films getting made. To The Studios it seems like every Film must be a Home run on a Global scale, a Tent Pole Enterprise, able to spin off Sequel after Sequel after Sequel after Sequel after Sequel after Sequel. If you have liked any of my Films in the past, this is the price it costs to see another one (which can be less than the cost of one Movie Ticket).